First I dream my painting, then I paint my dream. —Vincent Van Gogh

The process of creating a painting is a way for me to enter and play in sacred space. I hold a BA in Art History from Oakland University and a BFA in Illustration from the California College of the Arts. I studied Tibetan thangka painting for three years with Pema Wangyal of Dolpo, a Nepali painter from an ancestral line of lama/artists. The images combine religious and ancient motifs and personal symbols with the inspiration I draw from the deep wells of decades of practice of meditation and a passion for blues music. I have studied techniques and materials used in traditional Indian painting and textile dyeing. I also make my own paint from 23K gold leaf, and employ mostly natural mineral and gem pigments.

Making paint from 23K gold leaf: I learned the technique from artist Rosie White, who studied traditional Turkish manuscript illumination at the Royal Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul. It is a time-consuming process that starts with gold that has been beaten into sheets that are thinner than the finest onionskin paper. The sheets are so delicate that they can crumple and blow away if you breathe on them. I use wonderful antique English gold leaf that I obtained from a late artist’s estate. (Each yellowing package states that the leaf is to be used for the romantic purpose of “gilding in the wind,” which is actually the name of a gilding technique.) To make paint, I spend many hours, usually over several days, mixing the gold, sheet by sheet, with a natural binder and water with a fingertip, until it becomes perfectly smooth.

Gem and Mineral Gouache and Watercolor: Today, most pigments are synthetic. However, a handful of paint companies have started to produce gouache and watercolors with materials used in earlier times: minerals and gems. They are often identified with their places of origin, such as Sleeping Beauty turquoise from the Sleeping Beauty mine in Arizona, raw and burnt Siena, from the earth around Siena, Italy and Amazonite, from a gem found in the Amazon basin. There are paints made from lapis lazuli, malachite, hematite, Minnesota pipestone and other exotic materials from the earth. I love to work with these exquisite natural colors.

CHOCOLATE SERIES: These paintings were inspired by my love of chocolate, particularly its early use as a sacred Mesoamerican beverage. I have studied chocolate extensively, including its tumultuous history, unique and rather weird botany and its health benefits, have written many articles about it for national magazines, and have invented some scrumptious chocolate dessert recipes. I frequently give lectures about the history of chocolate in general and the history of its long-standing reputation as an aphrodisiac in particular.

BLUES IS MY MUSE SERIES: These paintings are inspired by my love for America’s own original music, the blues. I first heard Mississippi John Hurt and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee play at the Berkeley Folk Festival when I was about twelve years old, and I was a goner. Hearing slide guitar played by Mississippi Fred McDowell two years later sealed the deal. (McDowell taught me how to make a bottleneck slide from a neck of a whiskey bottle.) Like many young people in the mid-Sixties, I got turned on to Chicago-style blues through the Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s first album. Within a year I was blessed with the chance to hear Muddy Waters at Winterland in San Francisco, soon followed by a panoply of iconic blues musicians including Magic Sam, John Lee Hooker, Otis Spann, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, and a whole ‘nother universe opened up. The blues is honest and from the heart, and so is everything I paint.

GUARDIAN ANGEL SERIES: Several years ago I began painting guardian angels for friends who were feeling troubled. They felt soothed and nurtured by the paintings, as did I while I created them. I now accept commissions for angel paintings. Contact me, and I will work with you to learn the interests and the values that are most important to you or a loved one, and create a personal guardian angel for you or someone you wish to gift with an angel painting.

VEDIC SERIES: I am drawn to the Vedic, or Hindu pantheon on deities and the laws of nature they represent. These paintings are my meditations on gods and goddesses whose temples I have visited and with whom I feel a great affinity. I took a specialty in South Asian Area Studies in college, studying Sanskrit, Indian art history, philosophy, literature – anything about India I could possibly find a class in. It was not until I was thirty-five that I finally made it to India, but made up for lost time by spending a year working near Delhi, and another four months wandering around the South, visiting temples and holy sites. (See a story about India in the “Writing” section)

SANTA BARBARA BLUES SOCIETY POSTER SERIES: The Santa Barbara Blues Society is the oldest existing blues society in the U.S. Every year they sponsor five shows by stellar traditional blues artists. I create a commemorative poster for the shows that benefit the Blues Society. These posters are produced in extremely limited editions. Get them while you can, and help keep the blues tradition alive with a contribution towards the Santa Barbara Blues Society! Take a look at the website, www.sbblues.org
SBBS #2: NAT DOVE AND THE NAT DOVE BLUES BAND Limited edition. SBBS # 3: MARK HUMMEL AND THE BLUES SURVIVORS